AbeBooks' Reading Copy

James McAuley from the New Yorker’s super Book Bench blog goes to Archer City and what’s in Archer City, Texas – population 1,850? The answer is Larry McCurtry’s used bookstore – Booked Up. James was treated to a tour of McMurtry’s personal library. Over the years, he’s bought twenty-six bookstores—the stock, not the business—lamenting what […]

In a past life I worked in the music industry, promoting various live performances and working for a non-profit music festivals. The concept of paying an admission charge to be entertained for an evening is as natural as breathing to me so I don’t quite get what the fuss is about when it comes to […]

Andrew Kessler, the author of “Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission” was worried that since he was a new author, unknown and scandal-free that his book might not get the promotion and shelf space he felt that it deserved. So he opened his own bookstore and […]

Today, we have announced that AbeBooks Europe has signed an agreement to acquire ZVAB.com – the German online marketplace for rare and antiquarian books. ZVAB.com has more 3,000 booksellers in 27 countries and offers a unique inventory of over 35 million used, antiquarian and out-of-print books in many languages. Read the press release.

Sometimes, there is a story behind the company publishing the stories. Victor Gollancz was a literary pioneer. His firm printed some of the best books of the 20th century and he was a marketing guru when marketing was in its infancy. His legacy extends beyond publishing. He also campaigned against Fascism and then highlighted the […]

Some bloke in New York is charging $12 a pop to sharpen a pencil reports The Guardian. On one hand, I’m thrilled some people take pencils seriously, on the other, I’m…. (oh why bother?)

It’s a used bookstore, no, it’s a library – I don’t know what it is, but it’s something fantastic from David Kipen.

Sam Husain – the number-crunching chief executive of London’s grand old bookshop, Foyles – doesn’t read books, reports The Independent. Of course, Foyles has been doing rather well lately, so here’s the question – do you need to be bookish to be a good bookseller?

The Guardian’s money section (yes, not the book section) profiled London rare book dealer Ed Maggs at the weekend. Ed is the boss of the famous antiquarian bookselling firm, Maggs Bros. He was coy about his earnings. “I don’t tell people what to do,” he says. “But once in a while I might need to […]

For a second, I thought Glenn Beck was going on about Stuart Little yesterday but I don’t think America’s leading right-wing broadcaster does classic children’s books. Stuart Chase is the latest economist to be examined (negatively) by Beck, who will not become a Fabian Socialist anytime soon. Chase (1888-1985) was an American economist and engineer, […]